Top quality (food law)

The term top quality is used in food law to label meat , among other things .

Definition in the German food book

"Meat products with prominent information such as top quality [...] differ from the meat products otherwise customary under the respective name of the food, apart from high enjoyment value, through special selection of the starting material, no processing of mechanically separated meat or leftover meat obtained manually or in some other way from the bones especially due to higher proportions of skeletal muscles . "

criteria

The “high enjoyment value” is subjective and therefore difficult to measure and prove.

The "special selection of the starting material" leaves open what exactly the "special" means.

The ban on the processing of mechanically separated meat and leftover meat is the first objectively verifiable criterion on this list.

The “higher proportions of skeletal muscles” are regulated even more extensively in the definition. In some cases the absolute share has to be 10% higher (e.g. 13.2% instead of the usual 12%), in other cases the percentage has to be 10 percentage points higher (e.g. 75% instead of the usual 12%) 65%).

Individual evidence

1. ↑ [1] Point 2.12 of the guidelines for meat and meat products, from the German Food Book , version of April 17, 2019